\u201cDo you pray?\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a common question in the Bible Belt.\u00a0 It\u2019s ranks up there with \u201cAre you saved?\u201d and \u201cWhat church do you go to?\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s the way people in this part of the country tell \u201cour people\u201d apart from \u201cnot our people.\u201d<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve become accustomed to all three, although at first I found them a bit nosy and intrusive.\u00a0 As a Catholic, I was not raised to ask those questions of strangers.\u00a0 It\u2019s rude.\u00a0 It ranks right up there with asking someone how much money they make.\u00a0 It just isn\u2019t done in polite society, except it is here.<\/p>\n
I have answers for the other two ready to go at a moment\u2019s notice, but the \u201cDo you pray?\u201d one is different.\u00a0 I always answer \u201cNot as often as I should.\u201d \u00a0 It\u2019s not the right answer.\u00a0 \u201cDo you pray?\u201d\u00a0 It depends what you call prayer.<\/p>\n
If by prayer they are meaning the fold your hands and bow your head kind\u2026.I do.\u00a0 I do at every meal, well not always breakfast.\u00a0 It\u2019s not that I\u2019m not grateful for breakfast, it\u2019s just usually eaten on the run or in a hurry, and a granola bar doesn\u2019t seem like much of a meal.\u00a0 I should be better about breakfast.\u00a0 I\u2019m good about the other two meals and bedtime prayers with the children, do if this is what you mean by prayer, then yes, at least 3 times a day.<\/p>\n
If by prayer they mean a long hushed conversation with God where I pour out my thoughts and concerns either out loud or in my own head\u2026 not often.\u00a0 The chaos and fatigue of 6 children, 1 husband, and 2 dogs means constant interruption.\u00a0 I love this type of prayer, but it only seems to happen when the baby wakes up at 3:00 and is nursing in the quiet warmth of my bed.\u00a0 I may not always be coherent at 3 AM, but I do my best to not doze off.\u00a0 It\u2019s warm and quiet and my days are long. <\/p>\n
If by prayer they mean simply talking to God and being grateful\u2026I do.\u00a0 I do it dozens of times a day.\u00a0 I sit in the still quiet of my living room nursing #6, in that one moment before the noise erupts again, look to Heaven and just say \u201cThank you\u201d out loud.\u00a0 I go running in the muggy air of summertime Oklahoma and the skies open in a quick downpour, just enough to cool me off and I smile and laugh and shake my head because I was just about to say \u201cHow about a little rain?\u201d\u00a0 so I look up and say \u201cYou\u2019re funny.\u00a0 Thanks.\u00a0 I needed that.\u201d\u00a0 My day is a constant stream of big and mostly little gifts for which I thank Him.<\/p>\n
If by prayer, they mean do I let myself feel the love and joy of God\u2026oh, yes.\u00a0 It is one of the best parts of my day.\u00a0 I simply bask in the love of my Creator and let myself feel the joy of being His beloved girl.\u00a0 I breathe in His presence all around me and smile and say \u201cHi.\u201d\u00a0 Other times, I literally sing out in my joy in His presence.\u00a0 Can the song that goes \u201cme and you, and you and me..\u201dbe a prayer?\u00a0 I sing it to Him all the time.\u00a0 I like to think it makes Him smile.\u00a0\u00a0 Sometimes it\u2019s nice to simply sit in the Presence of God and just be.\u00a0 Is that a prayer?\u00a0 I think it may be.<\/p>\n
If by prayer they mean do I go to church\u2026absolutely.\u00a0 How do I put into words the ultimate prayer experience which is the Mass?\u00a0 How do I say that the best form of prayer is sacrifice and that there is no sacrifice greater than that which is re-presented every single time in the Holy Sacrifice which is the Mass?\u00a0 It is the gas that keeps me going from week to week.\u00a0 It is the prayer which lifts me up and allows me to sing with the choirs of angels.\u00a0 It is the solemn and serene point of my week where all my worries melt away and I get to stand in the actual physical presence of my Lord.<\/p>\n
Do I pray?\u00a0 They have no idea.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cDo you pray?\u201d It\u2019s a common question in the Bible Belt.\u00a0 It\u2019s ranks up there with \u201cAre you saved?\u201d and \u201cWhat church do you go to?\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s the way people in this part of the country tell \u201cour people\u201d apart from \u201cnot our people.\u201d I\u2019ve become accustomed to all three, although at first I found […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1979,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n